Every HYROX race in the world is identical: you run 1 kilometer, you do a station, and you repeat that eight times. Same order, same distances, same standards whether you're racing in Dallas or Dubai. That's the entire appeal — it's a fitness race you can actually train for, because you know exactly what's coming.
What most first-timers get wrong isn't fitness. It's that they treat the stations as eight separate events instead of one continuous 60–90 minute effort. Blow up on the sled push at minute 20 and you'll pay for it on every run lap and every rep that follows. So this guide covers each station the way we coach it: what it is, the official weights, the technique that saves energy, and how hard you should actually be going.
Station 1: SkiErg — 1,000 meters
The race opens with 1,000m on the SkiErg, and it's the most common place to ruin your day. You arrive fresh off the first run, adrenaline high, and the machine will happily let you pull 30 seconds faster than you can afford. The SkiErg is a full-body pull — lats, core, and hips driving the handles down, not just arms yanking.
- Technique: hinge from the hips, crunch down through the abs, let bodyweight do the work
- Damper: most athletes race best between 5–7 — test it in training, not on race day
- Pacing: your 1,000m pace should feel controlled — think 85% of what you could pull fresh
- Common mistake: arms-only pulling. Your shoulders will be cooked before the sleds
Open and Pro do the same distance here — the divisions only separate on the weighted stations. A good target for most first-timers is 3:45–4:15; competitive athletes go sub-3:30.
Station 2: Sled Push — 50 meters
Four lengths of a 12.5m carpet lane, and the single biggest race-wrecker in HYROX. The sled doesn't care about your engine — it's raw leg strength and body position. Arms locked out, spine long, hips low enough that your legs drive the load instead of your lower back. Short, punchy steps beat long strides every time.
- Break each 12.5m length into one unbroken effort, then take 3–5 breaths at the turn
- Lock your elbows — bent arms leak force and torch your triceps for wall balls later
- Common mistake: standing too tall. High hips means your back pushes, not your legs
- Pacing: this is the one station where going 'slow' barely costs time — going too hard costs the whole race
The heart-rate spike from the sled push is the most brutal in the race. Nearly everyone's next run lap is their slowest. Plan for it — jog the first 200m after the sleds instead of fighting it.
Station 3: Sled Pull — 50 meters
Same lane, opposite direction: you stand in a marked box and drag the sled to you with a rope, hand over hand, four times. Grip and posterior chain are the limiters. The efficient version looks like a rhythm — hinge, lean back with your bodyweight, and pull the rope in long strokes while walking backward inside the box.
- Use your bodyweight: lean back and let your legs and hips pull, not your biceps
- Long strokes beat short tugs — fewer grips, less forearm burnout
- Stay inside the box; stepping on or over the line earns penalties
- Common mistake: upright rope-yanking. Your forearms will be gone by the farmers carry
Sleds are won in the 12 weeks before race day.
Our HYROX Race Prep Block trains every station at race loads — including full simulations.
Station 4: Burpee Broad Jumps — 80 meters
The station everyone dreads. Chest to the ground, jump both feet forward, stand, and broad-jump forward — for 80 meters. There's no load, but at the halfway point of the race it becomes a pure test of pacing discipline. The winning strategy is boring: a slow, metronomic rhythm you never break.
- Step down into the burpee instead of crashing — it's barely slower and saves your chest and shoulders
- Jump for modest distance: consistent 1.5m jumps beat max-effort leaps that force standing rests
- Both feet must take off and land together — no lunging steps
- Pacing: pick a sustainable cadence in the first 10m and hold it. Sprinting this station is a rookie tell
Budget 3–6 minutes here depending on level. The athletes who 'lose' this station are the ones standing with hands on knees at 50m because they raced the first 30.
Station 5: RowErg — 1,000 meters
Station five is the closest thing HYROX gives you to a break. You're seated, the load is submaximal, and the smart move is to use it: settle your heart rate, take fluids if you carried them, and row at a pace you could hold for 2,000m. Legs drive, body swings, arms finish — in that order. Rushing the slide to 'save time' costs more in the back half than it gains.
- Stroke rate 24–28 is plenty; power comes from the legs, not frantic cadence
- Target roughly your 2K pace plus 10–15 seconds per 500m
- Common mistake: pulling 1:45 splits to bank time, then walking the next run lap
- This is where you mentally rehearse the final three stations — they're the grippy ones
Station 6: Farmers Carry — 200 meters
Two kettlebells, 200 meters, and one rule that matters: don't put them down. Every drop costs 10–15 seconds of deadlifting, re-gripping, and restarting momentum. The load isn't heavy for most athletes — it's the grip endurance after a sled pull that decides this station. Walk fast, stand tall, and squeeze the handles like they owe you money.
- Posture: shoulders back, ribs down — slouching shifts the load into your traps and forearms
- Pace: a brisk walk or light shuffle; running bounces the bells and shreds grip faster
- Train it: heavy carries once a week, plus dead hangs for grip capacity
- Common mistake: setting the bells down 'for a second' — one drop usually becomes three
Station 7: Sandbag Lunges — 100 meters
One hundred meters of walking lunges with a sandbag on your shoulders, on legs that have already run seven kilometers and pushed a sled. The standard is strict: back knee touches the floor, hips and knees fully extend at the top, and the bag stays on your shoulders. This is the station where quads start cramping — almost always because of pace, hydration, or both.
- Short-to-moderate steps: giant strides feel faster and cramp you at 60m
- Full lockout every rep — no-reps here are soul-destroying
- Breathe on a cycle: one breath at the top of every rep keeps rhythm honest
- Train it: walking lunges after your interval runs, not fresh — race legs are tired legs
Station 8: Wall Balls — 100 reps
The finish line is 100 wall balls away, judges are counting depth and target height, and your legs are done. This station rewards a plan made before the race, not decisions made at rep 40. Decide your sets in training — 5×20, 10×10, whatever you can actually repeat — and take short, standing rests with the ball held at your chest.
- Squat to depth every rep — hip crease below knee, ball hits the target. No-reps at rep 80 break people
- Catch the ball into your squat: absorbing it on the way down saves a full rep of effort
- Rest standing with the ball racked; setting it down invites a 30-second 'break' you can't afford
- Train it: big wall ball sets at the end of hard sessions, when your legs feel like race legs
The 9th station nobody talks about: the roxzone
Between every run and station you pass through the roxzone — the transition area. Elite athletes move through it with purpose; first-timers walk, drink, chat, and donate 5–8 minutes of total race time without noticing. Practice your transitions in training: finish a hard interval, walk 30 seconds max, start the next piece. Free speed lives here.
How to pace all 8 as one race
The stations aren't the race — the whole thing is the race. Our rule of thumb for first-timers: run laps at a conversational-to-comfortably-hard pace, hit the SkiErg and row at 85%, survive the sleds with your legs instead of your ego, keep a metronome on burpees and lunges, refuse to drop the farmers carry, and execute your wall ball plan. Negative-splitting a HYROX feels incredible. Blowing up at station 2 does not.
How we train the stations at DPS
Every piece of equipment above — SkiErgs, rowers, competition sleds, wall ball targets, sandbags, turf lanes — is on our floor in Dallas, and our HYROX-style classes rotate through all of it weekly at your division's race loads. For athletes with a race on the calendar, the 12-week Race Prep Block layers in pacing work, compromised running, station-efficiency technique sessions, and two full race simulations so that nothing on race day is new.
If you've never touched a sled or a SkiErg, that's exactly what a first free class is for. Come feel the stations — the race makes a lot more sense after you've met them.